Göran Persson

Hans Göran Persson (Swedish: [ˈjœ̂ːran ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn] ; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish former politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and as Leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Since 2019, he has served as chairman of the banking group Swedbank.

Persson was first elected to the Riksdag for Södermanland County in 1979, but left in 1985 and became a Municipal Commissioner of Katrineholm, serving until 1989. In 1991, he was re-elected to Parliament for the same constituency. He served as Minister for Schools from 1989 to 1991 in Ingvar Carlsson's first and second cabinets. From 1994 to 1996, Persson served as the Minister for Finance in Carlsson's third cabinet.

After Carlsson announced his retirement as head of government, Persson was selected to become his successor. Persson began his premiership from where he left as Minister for Finance — by continuing to spearhead government efforts to alleviate Sweden's chronic budget deficit. In 1994, the annual shortfall was about thirteen percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). But after implementing welfare cuts and tax increases, it fell to a projected 2.6 percent of GDP in 1997, which placed Sweden in a position to qualify for the European Economic and Monetary Union. However, the cost was high: unemployment rose, hovering persistently around thirteen percent, then suddenly fell to about 6.5 that same year. In the 1998 general election, the Social Democrats gained even fewer votes than in the 1991 general election, in which they lost their government position. Persson could remain as prime minister due to the support of the Green Party and the Left Party. In the 2002 general election, the Social Democrats increased their number of seats in the parliament. Following the 2006 general election defeat, Persson immediately filed a request for resignation, and declared his intentions to resign as party leader after the party congress in March 2007.

Since leaving office, Persson has been a consultant for the Stockholm-based PR firm JKL. He published a book in October 2007, "Min väg, mina val" (My path, my choices). In 2008, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Sveaskog by the Swedish Government. He has been a member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation since 2007, and a member of the board of World Resources Institute since 2010.